Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/05/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]OK all, I went back and re-read most of the account of the black paint M3. I think the key point is intentional fraud. From Brian's post, the seller was acting in good faith, believing the camera to be an original black paint camera. The buyer obviously received an item that could not be authenticated as an original black paint camera or he would not carp about the price. The buyer, after receiving the camera without the authenticating paper work, tried to return the camera for a refund. This would appear to be a normal request for an item whose value depends on some unique aspect, in this case black paint, which could not be authenticated. If any of you know more about this matter I would be glad to hear about it, but my point still stands. Do not buy anything sight unseen unless you can afford to throw the money down a rat hole. No amount of policy, written procedure, or agreed upon terms is going to work when things go wrong. Just look at what Kyle has on his hands. He has a clearly copy written image, the law is pretty settled in this case, and he is somewhat powerless unless Guido does a Ted on the perp. For those of you who quibble about being registered, that only applies to non economic damages. Kyle can prove that he is a published, paid photographer and therefore can charge anything that he wants to publish as his price list. The advice to send a demand letter with a bill is the correct legal procedure. Something along the lines of: I wanted to remind you that my customary rate for altered images on the web is $5000 per hour on the server. My records indicate that this image has been up for 308 hours which brings this months total to $1.5 million with the volume discount. A companion letter to the server operator and anybody up the food chain informing them of their liability for continuing to publish this image without payment should do the trick. I think an address in Alabama should do the trick. Don dorysrus@mindspring.com